


Deadline (Revised)

by PinkandRed (LucyRed), Sammykh



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Drugging, Dubious Consent, F/M, Flug's sanity is hanging on by a thread and Black Hat holds the scissors, Gaslighting, M/M, Paperhat - Freeform, Past Child Abuse, Rape/Non-con Elements, Slow Burn, Tentacle Rape, Tentacles, Underage Drinking, flugmencia, or something
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-02-28 11:12:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13270233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyRed/pseuds/PinkandRed, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammykh/pseuds/Sammykh
Summary: Working for Black Hat used to be a huge honor. Nowadays it was more of a horrible fact of life that Dr. Flug couldn't really change. All he wanted was a little appreciation and maybe some time to sleep every now and then, but that was obviously too much to ask of the most evil monster to ever exist.Then it comes to Black Hat's attention that Flug has been inching for the exit, and everything promptly goes to shit.





	1. The Daily Grind

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go  
> Here we go agaaainnn...

Sometimes, Flug wondered why he was still there.

With his skinny neck in Black Hat’s grip every other day, being shaken and strangled to within an inch of his life, and never sure whether or not his boss was going to let him live through the next minor slip up, Dr. Flug Slys had every reason to want to quit. Hell, with his cardiovascular health in the state that it’s surely in now, factoring in all the stress and caffeine he’s consumed in the last five years, he might as well retire. If Black Hat doesn’t kill him, a heart attack at age thirty probably will.

So much work, at such impossible deadlines, and with so many dangerous variables in his constant presence, was guaranteed to kill him one way or another.

One such dangerous variable was currently draped across his desk, where he’d been foolish enough to leave his desk light on for too long - the warm surface was apparently irresistible.

“Fluuuug, you’re being booooring.” Demencia whined, stretching just so, so that her pose was even more dramatic, and also preventing him from reading even more of his notes.

“Demencia,  _ move _ !” Flug snapped, not even feeling guilty for taking such a harsh tone with her, “I only have thirty minutes to finish this prototype! Go sit on your sunning rock!” He flipped off his desk lamp to keep her from absorbing any more warmth from it, “Go on, get!” 

“Booo!” She protested, not moving from her spot though her fangs did poke out over her bottom lip slightly in a pout. “You haven’t left the lab for like, an entire week!” She whined as she prodded the center of his bag.

“Because I'm working!” Flug flinched back from the poke and swatted her hand away, stepping back, “Maybe you've heard of the concept?!”

“All you do is wooork. Even the bear is feeling neglected!” Demencia continued, beginning to pull stuff out from underneath her reclined body to look through it.

Flug gave a guilty wince when he considered that he hadn't given 5.0.5 so much as an ear rub lately, but he shook his head to clear the thought. Proper villains didn't feel  _ guilt.  _ To make up for the backslide, he grabbed Demencia’s ankle and yanked her off the desk as harshly as he could, quickly gathering up his notes, “Go...go chase bugs in the vent! Or something!”

She gave a yelp of surprise, hitting the ground with a  _ thunk. _ She laughed it off however, and rolled onto her back to grab as many papers as she could. “Or something~” She snarked, sticking out her tongue.

_ “Put those down!”  _ Flug shrieked, trying to wrest the papers back from her, “Demencia I will shut you in the freezer I swear to hell!”

She easily rolled away from him, cackling. “Whyy? Got something important in heeere?” She teased.

_ “Obviously you idiot!”  _ Flug threw his emergency Demencia Distractor (a ping pong ball covered in very sparkly sequins) from his pocket towards the lab exit, giving a huff of relief as she immediately dropped all papers to give chase. Flug gathered up the dropped notes, silently but briefly mourning the loss of the one page stuck to the bottom of her shoe. He’d get by without it.

He set his notes down on his work bench and immediately set to transferring the theories and equations there into real life, defying the laws of reality, as you do, with every twist of his screwdriver and turn of his wrench. A typical work day for Dr. Flug, honestly. 

 

After recovering the ping pong ball, and storing it in her hood for safekeeping, Demencia noticed the paper stuck to her shoe. She smirked, and grabbed it, beginning to glance it over after noticing that it was full of scribbles. “What the-” She took a closer look, reading behind the scratched out lines. “...no. No way.” Her eyes widened, and she rushed back to the lab. “Flug!”

At her reentrance, Flug groaned loudly. “If you ate it, you're going to have to wait until after the commercial before I can get it out for you. I told you not to bite them!” Flug found himself stressing even further at the thought of having to cut open Demencia’s stomach for the fifth time this month - he always found horrible things in there. Things that were perhaps not horrible on their own but were definitely horrible in the context of Demencia’s stomach. 

“No, nonono I stored it in my hood. No this is about  _ this _ !” She waved the paper at him, eyes narrowing, “‘A letter of resignation’?! Are you really planning on leaving!?” 

Flug squinted over his shoulder at her, and then his eyes widened and he snatched it out of her hand, “That's not your business! And for hell’s sake keep your voice down!”

“Uh, yeah it's my business! Why are you-” She cut herself off, looking around briefly before lowering her voice to a stage whisper. “Why are you planning on leaving?”

The look Flug gave her was that of a man about to lose it - she recognized the expression well, having been present for many of the executions carried out by Black Hat on unwitting heroes. It was the look they had right before they began foaming at the mouth and tearing the flesh from their own faces.

Luckily Flug didn't progress to stage two. Though he did give a disconcerting laugh. “Really? Y-you have to  _ ask _ ?”

She looked down, fidgeting with her hands a bit. “I dunno, I thought you liked building stuff.”

“I did.” Flug dragged a hand down his face, sitting back in his seat. “I loved it. But now it's my own neck on the line if I don't build things within deadlines that don't allow for sleep, and on top of it all, there's a loud, obnoxious lizard hybrid of my own creation that thinks it's all a joke to constantly ruin my progress while I'm trying not to cry from terror at the thought of being late and thus  _ dead _ !” Flug shot her a glare, but the venom in it was withering only to him. “...so yes, I really want to fucking leave, Dem. Any further questions as to why?!”

She huffed, crossing her arms and meeting his glare. “Why don’t you just ask him to extend future deadlines?”

“Oh that'd go just swimmingly. Because Black Hat is the epitome of reason. You don’t  _ ask  _ Black Hat for any favors! Especially reasonable ones!” Flug shook his head, forcing himself to refocus on his work. “Now please, get the hell out, Demencia.”

She scoffed. “Whatever.” The woman turned on her heel and walked, hands balled up into tense fists.

Flug gave a weary sigh of relief at her absence and fully immersed himself in a work that he no longer got any joy out of, all his thoughts fixated on avoiding horrible punishment rather than the incredible achievements he was making.

“ _ Flug! 10 minutes before we go live!” _ Black Hat’s voice demanded over the intercom.

Flug flinched, looking down at the somewhat messy project on his bench. It was only a prototype, instead of a finished model like Black Hat had wanted, but some things just couldn't be done in two days. The monster would be lucky to have a prototype that didn't explode when Flug fired it.

Not that he'd be firing it at all - there were no test subjects for it and no way would he use this one on 5.0.5. Not even the moderate setting. 

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see Demencia slipping into the lab as he left.

 

“That’s the device?!” Black asked, taking the skeleton of a gun and looking it over with a narrowed eye.

“Ray..” Flug mumbled nervously, wringing his hands together and avoiding looking at the monster’s face, “And it'll...the finished model will look..better..”

Black Hat glared. “It’s not  _ finished _ !? How dare you hand me an unfinished ray!” A clawed hand grabbed Flug by the shirt, about ready to slam him into the wall.

Flug crossed his arms over his head to shield it from damage, already set to trembling violently, “W-we’re live in ten seconds!” He yelped in reminder, pointing to cambot’s timer. 

Black growled, dropping Flug. “It better fucking work.” He warned, before turning to the camera with a grin, “Greetings, lesser villains. Black Hat here with another  _ devious  _ device for you to buy from me!”

The Nightmare Ray had been Flug’s own proposal - one of the few ideas that Black Hat had actually liked. That being the case, Flug had hoped to be able to put extra time and effort into it. Unfortunately, Black Hat had expected the latter without the former, and so Flug was only able to cobble up something that barely met his own standards. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been able to make something that he was truly proud of.

Flug managed to acknowledge Black Hat's glare before he could be quiet for too long, and he rushed his lines as though in an effort to make up for the two seconds of silence he'd caused by spacing out. “Uhm! The..the Nightmare Ray can send its targets into a subconscious torment that can last from one to twenty-four hours, depending on the setting! Guaranteed to render any arrogant, so-called fearless hero a weeping mess of terror at the pull of a trigger!” Flug gasped for breath as subtly as possible when he finished, making an exhausted ‘ta-da’ gesture at the weapon in Black Hat’s grip. 

Black Hat gave an elegant flip of his wrist to adjust the dial on the side to 24 hours, “And now, a demonstration.” He said, before aiming the ray at Flug.

Flug’s eyes went wide and he barely got out a  _ “Pleasesirno!”  _ before his boss pulled the trigger, and Flug dropped to the floor. In a few seconds he was already convulsing and babbling frantically in his sleep. 

Black just turned back to the camera, giving a devious grin and a bow, “Send in your offers, villains -  **_or else_ ** .”

Cambot shut off, editing and uploading the footage in a matter of about ten seconds.

“Slow, useless piece of junk.” Black Hat snapped at it as he passed by, paying no mind to Flug’s whimpering and twitching. “ _ Demencia _ !” He yelled into the hall, “Move that useless carcass out of my shooting room! He’s drooling on my carpet!” 

Not a minute later, Demencia dropped in from the ceiling, dropping down with a roll. “Sure thing boss, where do ya want him?” She asked meeting his eyes with a grin.

“Throw him in his lab or anything. As long as he is out of my sight.” He dismissed grouchily, stepping on Flug’s gut as he exited the room. 

Demencia snickered at the twitching Flug on the floor, picking him up easily, and she slung him over her shoulder.

After laying him down on the Lab floor, she smirked, and took one of his pens. “Let’s give you a smile hmmm?” She said, snickering as she began to draw on the blank canvas of his paper bag.

It was easy not to care about what torments Flug might be suffering in his subconscious - even easier since he’d called her obnoxious.

Demencia skipped away cackling after she’d done her work, and Flug was left alone with his giant new grin, sweating and crying on the cold tile floor.


	2. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flug endures the nightmares and then wakes up 24 hours later to no sympathy from his boss or his co-worker.

#  Chapter 2

_ Something was behind him, he couldn't see what it was, but he could hear it. Oh hell, could he hear it. From its unearthly screeching to its approaching steps, rapidly getting faster. _

_ Flug couldn’t move - he could barely breathe. He felt himself crying but he didn't dare make any sound. He couldn't let it know where he was. If he stayed still maybe it wouldn't find him.  _

_ It shrieked again, the world trembling as it did so. It was closer. Was that it’s breath, or just the wind? _

_ Panic quickly started to overwhelm common sense, and Flug began struggling to try and run - he didn’t care if he couldn’t hope to get away, trying was far better than just lying there waiting to die. _

_ As he made the move to run, he felt claws dig into his arm, tearing into the flesh. “Gooooing sssomewhere?” Hissed a voice that was as alien as it was familiar. _

_ Flug cried out in alarm at the unexpected grab, gasping as blood seeped from the fresh wound and soaked the arm of his lab coat, “L-let go of me!”  _

_ The grip only tightened. “Suuuch a weeeak little thiiing.” The voice taunted, laughing. _

_ Flug looked around frantically, squinting into the darkness and trying to put a face to the voice mocking him, “Wh-what do you want?! Who are you?!” _

_ The voice cackled. “Oooh, doctorrr. ̴T҉̢͝ur̸̵̢n̕ ̸͞҉aro̧u̸n̵͝d̨,̴̕ ̧F͠l̸͜͝ug̡.” _

_ A horrible chill went down the scientist’s spine as he forced himself to look over his shoulder, swallowing and biting on his lip beneath his bag.  _

_ A horrible monstrosity revealed itsself before him. It grinned at him with countless mouths. “Y҉҉͡o͟u̢͜ ͘k̵͟n̷̵͠o̕w ̕͏e҉x̡a̷͝c͡t̶l̴y̢ ̷͡w̢h͠o̵̕͝ ͟͢͏Į ̶̡a̵̧̛m̢~͠” _

_ Flug paled, knees starting to knock together as he tried to turn around, to step away, “N..no. No, what...wh-why are you doing this? What did I do wrong sir p-please just tell me and it won’t happen again!”  _

_ “You can’t run from me~” The abomination cackled, beginning to drag Flug closer. _

_ Flug’s breathing got faster, the eyelights in his goggles shrinking to pinpricks and trembling as he was pulled in towards the monstrosity. Black Hat was finally going to kill him. Oh fuck.. _

_ He was pulled closer and closer towards a widening mouth, tendrils beginning to wrap around his limbs, saliva dripping from the teeth. _

_ “N-no no no no no no sir please no!” Flug began screaming, abandoning all half-hearted thoughts of a brave death, thrashing and doing anything to try and tear free, “P-please! Please I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything don’t kill me I don’t want to die  _ please- _!”  _

_ Flug was pulled into the mouth, and darkness closed in around him, swallowing him up. _

 

_ When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a plane. The noise fading in. Beeping of the plane console’s warning that something has gone wrong, and the screaming of panicked passengers filled his ears, the floor rumbling beneath him. Flug sat back from his chair, blinking rapidly and staring left and right. What..no, this couldn’t be happening. He’d gone on countless simulation flights. Perfect ones. He had the best scores in class. _

_ Why was his first flight dropping from the sky? _

_ Flug stared out the window, and then began to scream. But it came out as laughter.  _

_ “What the fuck is wrong with you!? Do something!” His co-pilot screamed, reaching for the controls. Flug’s ears popped as they descended further. Flug looked down to see a gun in his hand. _

_ His hand raised and without blinking he shot the man through the eyes. It was the same as crashing the plane, wasn’t it? Either way, he killed him. He ran from the cockpit, like a coward, trying to find a parachute. Or an escape - like this would all turn out to still be the simulator, and not real life. Like all the screaming passengers he was running past were projections and not real. It couldn’t be real. It was too horrible. _

_ The crash was loud, and the lights flickered pitifully. He turned, having somehow managed to stay standing, and he could see the walls of the plane coated with blood. Everybody dead. He seemed to phase through the walls of the aircraft until he was standing on the grass outside, watching the plane burn. His face ached - really badly. All he could do was stare at the wreck of a machine and wonder how he was alive. _

_ “What have you done!?” An accusing voice rose behind him. It was the voice of his co-pilot. Flug turned to find the man walking slowly up to him. The bullet wound leaked blood, dripping down his face. Behind him, the rest of the passengers followed. Each sported their own, horrific and gruesome wounds. _

_ Flug stepped back, raising his hands. “I..I didn’t m-mean to.” He confessed, heart pounding in his ears. “I..I only pretended that I meant it. But I didn’t. I-it was supposed to go perfectly!” _

_ “You killed us!” A woman from the crowd shouted.  _

_ “I had a family!” Screamed another. _

_ The mob continued to approach, leading Flug to the firepit that was once the plane. His burns began to increase in pain level. _

_ “It hurts! It huuuurts!” A child cried. _

_ “You are nothing but a monster!” His co-pilot snarled. _

_ “I-I’m sorry..” Flug felt the flames beginning to lick at his back, and he tried to move forward, avoiding looking at their horribly deformed forms.  _

_ “Liar.” The crowd said in unison.  _

_ His co-pilot grabbed him by the front of his shirt, lifting his feet off the ground. “You enjoyed every second,” he said, as the crowd began to reach for Flug. _

_ “N-no..no I didn’t I s-swear th-the laughter was a panic reaction!” Flug cried, flailing in the iron grip, “I’m sorry! I’m s-sorry  _ please _!”  _

_ “Why don’t you join us in hell!?” The crowd said, before co-pilot dropped Flug into the flames. _

 

_ Flug crossed his arms over his face, and then when no searing pain passed through him, slowly lowered them. He was staring at a birthday cake with eight candles on it, and found that his chin barely reached the table it was seated on. Half of them were blown out. _

_ “Too weak to even blow out eight fucking candles..” Muttered a voice that made Flug flinch instinctively. _

_ “Shut up!” A shrill voice immediately dove back into a coo as a thin hand rubbed his shoulder, “There you go, Slys, my precious boy - have some cake.” _

_ Flug looked at the half burnt, half unbaked pastry that was sliding to pieces. Without thinking he allowed a grimace to cross his face. _

_ “ _ Ungrateful piece of shit _!” The previously soft voice screamed, and Flug found himself backhanded, the used party hat falling off his head as he dove under the table. High-heeled shoes chased him, trying to kick his face and stomach. Flug crawled away crying, fingernails scratching at the carpet as he got back to his feet on the other side of the table and ran for his bedroom. He glanced back to see his ‘loving’ mother throwing her lighter on the two sloppily wrapped birthday presents, still screaming and kicking at the wall while his father remained sitting on the couch, unaffected. _

_ He crawled under his bed, sobbing and covering his head as he rocked in place, begging it to stop, to be over soon… _

 

Flug sat up with a choked gasp, throat parched and his entire body shaking. He gave a hoarse cry, holding his neck and curling forward as he buried his face in his hands. He just hoped to hell he was awake this time. He couldn’t take another nightmare.

After a few minutes with nothing horrible happening, Flug forced himself to pull it together, and he dragged himself off the bed. He grabbed a change of clean clothes, heading into his attached bathroom and setting the articles down on the bathroom sink. For a good two minutes he drank through the sink, desperate to ease the ache in his dry throat. It felt like every last strand of his hair was stuck to his head with sweat - he lost a lot of moisture in his sleep. Hopefully only through sweat and crying.

He turned on the shower, making sure the water was hot, and only removed his bag once the mirror was fogged with steam. Flug grabbed the soap bar and scrubbed himself down almost violently, wincing a bit when he rubbed some of his skin pink, but continuing anyway. What the hell had he been thinking, letting his guard down after handing Black Hat a goddamn Nightmare Ray? Honestly he should have  _ expected  _ this.

After a good thirty minutes, Flug finally stepped out. He toweled off, getting dressed and applying a fresh bag and goggles before leaving his room. Just a quick stop in the kitchen for some food and coffee and he could get back to work on whatever insane project Black Hat had for him next. 

When he arrived in the kitchen, he saw 5.0.5. putting lunches together. The bear looked up upon Flug’s entry, and let out a surprised but mirthful noise, setting everything down to greet him.

Flug happily accepted the embrace, burying his head against the bear’s fuzzy, warm stomach. He honestly didn’t give a fuck if Black Hat burst in right now to lecture him about how villains didn’t ‘snuggle’ and how he was being an embarrassment. He just endured 24 hours of nightmares. He was going to take a damn snuggle. 

5.0.5 nuzzles Flug happily, having missed his creator’s hugs. After a few more minutes, 5.0.5 pulled away slightly to gesture at the food. “Baw?” he asked.

“God, yes, please.” Flug nodded rapidly, rubbing at his skinny belly. He hadn’t had a proper meal in days. He’d been running off of granola bars and caffeine pills. 

The bear nodded, and turned to the counter, picking up the plate and handing it to Flug. 

However, before Flug could get a grip on the plate, Demencia leaped down from where she was hiding on the ceiling, and landed her foot on the plate. She did a roll to break her fall, but the damage was done, the food and the broken plate lay smashed on the floor. She cackled in amusement.

Flug jumped back, screaming - an already typical reaction, but his heart was pounding much harder than it usually would, as for a second he half expected the nightmares to continue. When they didn’t, the fear was immediately replaced by anger, “Fucking  _ dammit  _ Demencia!” Flug yelled, grabbing a shard of plate and throwing it at her as hard as possible, “Why don’t you do something useful for once instead of just running around like an obnoxious waste of space?!” 

She dodged the shard easily, and watched as it chipped into smaller pieces on the wall. She turned back around, sticking out her tongue, posture tense. “Why don’t’cha make me? Oh right, your weak noodle arms can’t do shit!” She fired back.

“So go pick on someone that can give you the fucking broken nose you deserve!” 

Demencia scoffed, and opened her mouth to retort, before a whine from 5.0.5 interrupted her, diverting her attention. Flug looked at the creature and gave a guilty wince, patting 5.0.5’s head, “S-sorry...I didn’t mean to..raise my voice..I’m not mad. I promise.” Flug murmured, forcing his eyes to smile, “I’ll just get something from the fridge, okay?”

Demencia scoffed again. “Pussy.” She muttered, despite her anger fading at the bear’s distress as well, before crawling up the wall, and slipping into the vents.

5.0.5 pointed to a spare plate of food on the counter, letting out a proud noise.

Flug gave a sigh of relief and grabbed the dish, pushing up the bottom of his bag and scarfing down the meal quickly.

While Flug ate, 5.0.5 collected a broom and dustpan, and began to clean up the mess, though he would cast occasional worried glances at Flug. In a matter of minutes Flug had cleaned the plate thoroughly, giving a happy sigh and closing his eyes. “Oh, five...that was  _ wonderful _ ..”

5.0.5 grinned at the praise, and set aside the broom to solicit another hug. Flug happily returned it, patting the bear’s head. “I’m gonna start up some coffee. Can you bring it to me when it’s done?” Flug asked. 5.0.5 was unfortunately not good at making coffee, but he was capable of bringing a finished mug to the lab. 

The bear nodded, and waved farewell as Flug left the kitchen. 5.0.5 sighed, and got back to cleaning.

 

Flug entered the lab with a huff, the door feeling heavier to his tired arms. He hoped Black Hat didn't have a huge schedule for him, because he would love to squeeze in a nap or two. 

He heard a scrambling noise as he opened the door, and a flash of neon green hair disappearing into the vent told him the culprit.

Flug groaned and began searching to see if anything important was missing. 

While nothing  _ ‘ _ important’ was missing, he did notice he was missing several  _ convenient _ items, which, upon their disappearance, made them important.

A wheel from his desk chair, the lightbulb in his lamp, and all the erasers missing off his pencils, just from what he noticed at first.

Flug growled under his breath. “Demencia…” He hissed through his teeth, pulling up his non-rolly chair that he didn't like as much and taking a hard seat. His brow furrowed as he thought about how to take revenge.

Logically he knew no revenge was the best, as it wouldn't give her attention and there was zero chance of it backfiring on him. But he didn't give a fuck about logic. He wanted  _ retribution. _

Now what was the best way to get back at a hyperactive lizard woman…

 

When Demencia woke up from her sleep the next morning, she rolled over and felt something crack under her leg. She sat up and looked, throwing the covers off her naked body, to find that there was a pile of eggs lying between her thighs. 

Her eyes widened. “Holy shit.”

Immediately she grabbed an armful of the eggs, and rushed out of her room, paying no mind to her indecency. She burst into Black Hat’s office. “Black Hat! Guess what! I laid eggs in my sleep!” She shouted.

“What the devil are you going on about!?” Black snapped, turning to her and regretting it instantly. “And where are your clothes!?”

Demencia doesn't answer, instead setting the eggs on his desk proudly. “I laid eggs!” she repeated.

Black looks down at the eggs, unimpressed, and a thinning hold on his temper. “Those are the eggs of a chicken you damned idiot!” He growls, using a tendril to swipe them off his desk. “Get the hell out of my office before I make it impossible for you to reproduce at all!”

“....But sir-”

“NOW!” He snarled, causing her to flinch back, and exit the office feeling rather humiliated.

Chicken eggs? But how did chicken eggs get in her room-....

….. **_Flug_ ** !

She started storming in the direction of the lab, before recalling the fact she wasn’t wearing any clothes, and then hurried to her room to get dressed.

That bastard was going to pay.

 

Flug had to reach under his bag with a tissue to wipe at his eyes as he started giggling for the tenth time that hour. Yes it was incredibly immature of him but  _ gods  _ that had been  _ fucking funny _ ! Luckily Demencia hadn't even noticed him crouched right outside the door, too caught up in her own embarrassment. Probably Flug would have been dead. Though seeing her naked had flustered him enough to keep him from laughing until he'd snuck away.

And planting those eggs in the first place had been-

Okay he wasn't going to think about it.

The important thing was that it was the best revenge ever. 

 

It took Demencia a lot of time and stealth, but she successfully hidden each article of his spare clothing in many various places around the manor. She had done the whites last, as she made sure to bring out her strongest hairdyes, and paint all over them. She set those on his bed, despite the fact they hadn’t dried.

Then, she rigged up a bucket of dyed green water just over his lab door.

Now to lure him out.

She had a couple of ideas, but the surefire way was to use Flug’s weakness against him. Luring 5.0.5 just outside of the lab door was easy. 

“Don’t take this personal bear.” Was 5.0.5’s only warning before Demencia slammed her foot down on his footpaw, causing him to yelp loudly. He continued whimpering as he laid on the ground to coddle his foot.

Flug was out of his lab like a shot at the loud yelp, “Five-?!” He abruptly gave a yelp of his own as freezing cold, green water was dumped all over him.

Demencia fell over, cackling and kicking her feet in the air.

5.0.5 just whimpered and scooted away a bit, planning on avoiding the two at this point.

Flug immediately rushed back into the lab when he felt his bag falling apart, changing out his gloves and pulling on a fresh bag before storming back out into the hall, “You! You…!  _ Nuisance _ !” 

Demencia continued laughing as she stood up, making sure to stick her tongue out. “Good luck finding a change of clothes~”

“What did you do to my clothes?!”

She smirked. “They are all hiding. And the one’s that didn't, well, the dye hasn’t dried yet.” She snickered.

“You have got to be  _ kidding me _ -!”

_ “FLUG! Report to my office immediately!” _

The scientist paled behind his bag.

“Oooo, he sounds angry. Better hurry up before he rips off your limbs~” Demencia said, before sticking out her foot as he walked past to trip him.

Flug hit the ground with a yelp, holding his nose as he picked himself back up and rushed down the hall. He was dripping green water everywhere, and he at least had the sense to not enter Black Hat’s nicely carpeted office after knocking, instead lingering outside the door and giving a timid, “Y-you called sir?”

“A few orders came in.” Black said, turning, and narrowing his eye at the dripping scientist. “Why are you soaked?”

“Uhm. There was a..a bucket above my door..”

“...” Black raised a disapproving eyebrow, but didn’t question further. “We also have a couple commissions lined up as well. And given the fact of you having enough time to waste on  _ pranks, _ I take it you can handle some extra work as well.” He said in a scolding tone, setting the copies of the commissions and orders on to his desk for Flug to take.

Flug quaked at the thick stack of papers, “It w..it was just a one time th-thing…” He tried to plead, gripping his soaked sleeve and wincing up his eyes. 

“Are you  _ arguing _ with me!?” Black snapped, glare fierce.

Flug yelped and scrambled back, but forced himself to stop after a few feet, “I-I really can’t take an even h-heavier workload sir! I-I already have three projects d-due every day for the next three months and I get calls every day and I honestly c-can’t take any more work I  _ can’t _ !”

Black held his glare a moment. “You have been late several times with your deadlines. How do I know it’s not because you are  _ wasting _ your time with pranks, that, mind you, have not only delayed you, but also interrupted me!?” He lectured, his fist slamming into his desk. “For your sake, it better damn well be an isolated incident!”

“Y-yes sir of c-course sir I promise n-nothing like that will happen again I-I swear!” Flug shrieked, “I just h-” His eyes darted to the side, and he blanched when he saw the calendar on the wall. “..oh...oh I missed 24 hours...I...o-oh fuck..” He could  _ feel  _ the ulcer forming in his stomach, “..I have to get back to work. I-I’m behind I have to get back to work..” 

“Dismissed.” Black ordered, before turning back to his own work.

Flug promptly turned on his heel and fled back to the lab, stripping out of his wet lab coat and throwing it in the sort of direction of the laundry room as he ran. No time to change. If he caught fire with only his t-shirt for protection then so be it.

Because catching fire and burning to ash was honestly a better fate to him than being a second later than he already was on his deadlines.

 

Demencia stayed alert for any retaliation as she crawled through the vent towards the lab. She found however, instead of a prank, just a grate over the vent. She frowned, and pushed on it experimentally. It didn’t budge. “That’s cheating.” She complained before scooting back slightly to kick the grate as hard as she could.

“D-Demencia stay  _ out _ . This isn’t a joke. I-I am fucking  _ swamped _ right now I can’t-” Flug cut off as one of the five phones rang and he grabbed it, holding it up to his ear and tucking it under his head as he scribbled down frantically in a notebook, “B-Black Hat Incorporated! Th-this is the lab speaking! Wh-what diabolical deed can we help you with today?!” 

“Why even bother?” Demencia snarked, kicking the grate again, feeling it give slightly. “You’re leaving anyway right?”

“I-I’d like to keep my skin until I do!” Flug barked back, quickly apologizing into the phone, “N-no sir, not...s-sorry about that, no keep..k-keep talking……..uhm..you were saying something about….slugs…?” 

“When are you planning on leaving us anyway? If you even have the guts for it.” Demencia jeered, and kicked the grate again, causing it to bend in half.

“...uhm, no I think that’s a…...great...idea...who..who wouldn’t use...slugs for...guards...uhm..” Flug shook his head as he scribbled down the terrible idea, “...yes we’ll...we’ll make this profitable, of course you have to..you have to sell your soul first...i-it’s..what? Of course. I-it’s not even in the fine print..” 

Demencia huffed at being ignored, and one last kick sent the grate clattering loudly to the floor.

Flug couldn’t spare her the attention he wanted to as the man on the phone began yelling, “R-really? You’re going to talk about ‘reasonable’? Y-you want the slowest, most ineffective creature on the planet as a  _ g-guard animal _ ! What the fuck can you say about ‘reason’?! The only way you can  _ e-ever  _ become an effective villain is if you sell your soul to the one villain in this g-goddamn world that actually knows what he’s doing!” 

Demencia smirked, and made a grab for the phone receiver.

Flug jerked back away from her with a warning look, “D-did you think this service was free or something?! It’s not! C-call back when you make the first smart decision of your life!” He slammed the phone down and all but threw it back onto his desk, huffing and tearing out the page from his notebook, “F-fucking idiot..” 

“Was he offering us slug guards? ‘Cause that sounds pretty cool.” She said, hovering over his shoulder.

“H-he wanted me to use the idea and..improve on it. ‘If I possibly could’.” Flug quoted, shaking his head in exasperation and throwing the page into his overflowing trash bin. “Fucking moron..” 

“Dunno, I can make them pretty useful by putting them in your bed.” She snickered.

“Maybe I’ll be stupid enough to tell Black Hat I birthed them in my sleep.”

She glared, and pushed him off his chair and onto the floor. Flug yelped, screaming as his flailing arm knocked his mug of coffee onto a stack of blueprints, “ **_NO! NO NO NO NO NO_ ** !” He grabbed the papers and frantically tried to shake off the stains, “ **_DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID?!”_ ** Weeks -  _ weeks!  _ \- worth of projects  _ ruined _ ! 

Demencia cackled. “Yeah, made you squeal like a little girl!”

“Y-you! You unbearable  _ agony _ !” Flug yelled, flinging his empty mug at her, “M-making you was a  _ mistake _ !  _ I should have left you in that gutter! I should have let you die like the miserable, useless piece of shit you are!”  _

She looked at him in shock for a moment, before balling her fists and glaring. “Whatever! At least Black Hat doesn’t hate me clearly as much as he hates you! Honestly a gutter would be much better than hanging out with an asshole like you!” She shot back.

“No one is making you ‘hang out with me’, by which you apparently seem to think means  _ ruining all my hard work and making my life a living  _ **_hell_ ** !” 

“Well, maybe I would ruin less if you were less of an asshole!” She snapped, sticking out her tongue.

“Like fuck it would! You exist to be a nuisance! I made you so you’d be  _ helpful  _ and all I got was a lizard  _ disgrace _ that only ever plays guitar and  _ occasionally  _ kills the right target while making my life somehow  _ worse  _ than it already is!” 

Her breathing quickened. “Fuck you! It’s not  _ my  _ fault that I happen to be part of  _ your _ endless string of failures!”

**_“What is all this fuss about!?”_ ** Black Hat said, appearing next to the two.

Flug jumped, falling back into his seat, “Sh-she just wrecked a w-week’s worth of blueprints!” 

“Like it even matters! You won’t need them soon anyway!” Demencia hissed.

_ “Four of them were due yesterday and I couldn’t finish them because I was  _ **_unconscious_ ** !” 

“Then why don’t you just leave right now instead of sitting around planning it like a fucking  _ traitor!? _ ” Demencia all but screamed, leaning into her yell. 

“Who is leaving?” Black Hat asked.

Demencia froze as she realise what she let slip, after her shock faded, she took a step back and straightened her posture, focusing her attention on Black Hat. “F-Flug is, sir.” She said, feeling a slight pang of guilt as she did so. He deserves it, she reasoned to herself. “I saw his ‘letter of resignation’.”

Flug paled under the bag, eyelights shrinking as he stared at Demencia. She hadn’t. She  _ hadn’t  _ just said that. Did she honestly want him dead?

...oh fuck, he was going to die..Black Hat was going to kill him..

“Demencia, leave.” Black ordered calmly.

Demencia tensed, glancing briefly at Flug, before walking out of the lab.

Black stayed silent as she departed.

Flug started trembling before Black Hat even said a word, already tearing up as the demon locked eyes with him.

He was going to die.


	3. You Don't Quit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flug is reminded of his loyalties.

Black walked up to Flug, his shoes clacking against the tile, cutting through the silence. Black’s expression remained blank.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck. “...sh-she’s lying, I..I wouldn’t q..” Okay that’s a lie. “...I love working h-..” That’s a worse lie. “...I d-don’t want to die, please..” There. A truth. 

Black stopped walking before he could step on the pleading man. “Stand up.” He ordered.

“O-oh fuck..” Flug whispered, having no choice to obey, even though his knees knock together so violently that he was in danger of falling. “O-oh god..”

Black raised his hand, and smirked when he saw Flug flinch. His hand slipped under the bag to rest on Flug’s cheek, his thumb rubbed the outline of a scar. “Dr. Flug.” He said finally, breaking the silence.

Flug tried to jerk back when his face was touched, but Black Hat dug in his claws just enough to prevent that. The scientist stared in bewildered terror at the monster touching him, not responding.

“It’s adorable how you think you can just leave.” Black said, a slight purr in his voice. He leaned closer to Flug, his other hand resting on Flug’s shoulder. “Did you  _ really _ think it would be as simple as a resignation letter?” He asked.

“N-no..” Flug whimpered, Black Hat’s ‘gentle’ touches only scaring him more. The only times Black Hat touched him were when he was striking him - he’s never... _ caressed  _ him like this before. It’s terrifying.

“Were you planning then, to slip away into the night, without being noticed?” Black asked, tone cold, yet gentle. He breathed in the fear that rose from his scientist, enjoying the feeling of the man trembling, and the slight wetness of tears soaking into his glove.

Knowing he was already laid bare in front of the monster, Flug nodded, a hiccup catching in his throat. “I-I’m sorry..I’m s-sorry-” 

“Sorry you got caught?” Black asked, stepping forward, and pushed Flug against the wall by default. His hand on Flug’s shoulder began to rub circles.

The ‘comforting’ gesture just made Flug start crying harder, large drops falling onto Black Hat’s claws as he nodded again, “Y-ye-es..” 

“Do you know what would have happened if you did manage to slip away? Hmm?” Black asked tilting up Flug’s head as if scolding a child.

The trapped hiccup in Flug’s throat finally escaped, “Y-you w-w-would h-have h-hunted me d-down and k-killed m-me?” 

Black shook his head. “Worse. I would hunt you down, beat the living  _ shit _ out of you, and force you back to work with a chain around your ankle. You wouldn’t ever see the light of day again.” Black threatened, his grip tightening. “And that wouldn’t be ideal, right?”

Flug whimpered, shaking his head, “N-no s-sir...no it w-wouldn’t sir..” 

“So if you find yourself displeased, doctor, just remember it can always be worse.” Black withdrew, taking a step back. “Your freedom is an illusion, Doctor. It has been since you signed that contract.” He then turned, walking towards the door.

Flug slunk to his seat against the wall, wheezing out a breath and holding his chest. Fuck, his heart was pounding...he listened to it, and the sound of its frantic thumping almost drowned out the sound of Black Hat locking the lab door.

The doctor looked up, feeling blood drain from his face as he saw Black Hat turn around. “..p-please..” 

“You should be thankful, I could to a lot worse to you than a light beating.” Black scolded with a smirk, tendrils manifesting from his back as he stepped closer.

Flug instinctively put his arms up to shield his head, curling up as small as possible, “P-please..s-sir please c-can’t we count the nightmares a-as a punishment for this?  _ P-please _ ?!” 

“The nightmares were punishment for the unfinished ray.” Black said as a tendril lashed around Flug’s wrist, and yanked him onto his toes.

“I-if you injure me I-I’m slower at work a-and our products won’t be as good!” Flug continued desperately trying to put some reason into Black’s head, already sobbing. 

“Your limbs will remain unharmed. I’m sure you can survive a few bruises.” Black scoffed, before backhanding Flug’s cheek, followed by a tendril lashing across his back.

Flug jerked backwards and then forwards, choking on a gasp and then going back to shielding his face with his one free arm, ducking down and cowering. “P-please..p-please don’t please..”

He was struck on the side of his rib as the tendril dropped him, causing him to slam against the wall. Flug’s head hit it first, knocking him dizzy. He slouched to the floor, nonsensical noise spilling out of his lips as he held his temple. It hurt…

“Down already doctor?” Black Hat sneered, grabbing the scruff of his t-shirt and yanking him back to his feet, “You can endure longer than that.”

“N-n-” Flug was cut off as Black Hat slashed at his head, claws slicing open four tears in the paper and cutting through to his face. The scientist gave a yelp, more from alarm at his face being partially exposed than from the pain - also one of those claws came dangerously close to one of his eyes. If not for his goggles he could have lost it.

“Stay standing.” Black Hat ordered, circling around the staggering doctor for a few moments before lashing at his back again, the tentacle forming thorns that tore through the t-shirt. Flug gave a choked scream, stumbling forward and barely staying upright.

The monster smirked darkly. So obedient...even in a state of terror...he would never admit it out loud, but he knew he was lucky to have found such a cooperative scientist, not to mention one so brilliant.

It would fix Flug’s ego for  _ weeks  _ if he told him that. So naturally, he kept it to himself.

Flug managed to stay upright for another three strikes before dropping to his hands and knees, emaciated body shaking violently,

“Pathetic.” Black Hat sneered, even though he was surprised that the fragile doctor was able to stay standing as long as he was. “Do you have no dignity, Dr. Flug? Can’t you even tolerate a minor punishment such as this without whimpering and begging? You disgust me.”

Flug shut his eyes tightly, biting down another such whimper and quivering on the floor, “I-I’m sorry...I’m sorry..” He forced out, struggling to stagger back to his feet.

Black Hat stepped on his back (he could practically feel the skinny man’s spine through the sole of his shoe) and forced Flug entirely to the floor, enjoying the wheeze of pain. “The only reason you’re still alive is that, in spite of your pathetically weak and  _ revolting  _ body, you manage to possess a half-decent brain that produces inventions that are somehow appealing to the mass of idiots that I call my clients. Your only purpose now is to  _ work _ ,” he ground in his heel, “ _ for _ ... **_me_ ** ..” He dug in his heel further with every word, eliciting cracks from Dr. Flug’s back that would either save him a trip to a chiropractor or send him to one. “ _ Is that understood?” _

Dr. Flug nodded, coughing and managing to give a tremulous smile, which Black Hat could only see slits of through the tears in his bag, “Th….th-thank you..sir…” Yes, a lot of that tirade had been insulting and humiliating, but Flug forcibly pulled a compliment out of it - ‘half-decent’ was maybe the nicest thing Black Hat had ever called him.

Black Hat baulked a little at that, before shaking his head in silent disbelief and stepping back. “Come to my office later to receive a revision of your work schedule.” He said, before turning, and walking out.

Flug nodded again, listening to the sound of the door unlocking and Black Hat leaving before he allowed his eyes to close - he ignored the screaming thoughts in his head reminding him of all his work, and instead passed out.

 

* * *

 

Black Hat returned to his office, and took out his planner showing the real deadlines for the work he had given Flug. He then pulled out Flug’s version with cramped timeslots. Black growled at himself. The drop in quality has started earning complaints from clients, and made his scientist dream of running away. “This won’t do.” He murmured to himself. He was pretty sure he had scolded a villain for doing the same, albeit worse, to his own employees. How easy it was to fall into such a trap.  He began to rewrite Flug’s planner, allowing a little more time in between deadlines. Not too much to make it look like a reward, but just enough to allow for higher quality products.

He set it aside on his desk once he finished, and got back to his daily paperwork. After all that, he had fallen quite behind himself.

 

* * *

 

Flug woke up in his own bed with 5.0.5’s wet nose nuzzling his face, the creature whining softly. The doctor opened his eyes, blinking and then looking down at himself - there were bandages wrapped around his chest and waist to press against the gashes in his back, and there was a little baggie of ice on his shoulder where the worst bruise was.

5.0.5 had gotten too adept at treating the doctor’s injuries.

“Mnh...th-thanks buddy…” Flug murmured.

A fresh bag was held out to him, and the bear turned around while Flug discarded the torn one and pulled down the new one. Flug got to his feet, vision spinning a bit but then steadying out. He gave a weak pat to the bear’s shoulder before exiting his room and heading out into the hall. Nearly he headed for the lab before remembering Black Hat’s instructions.

It was with a lot of dread that he forced himself to alter his path, heading for the office. He was probably going to have even more work piled on him...Flug felt like crying just at the thought. Three deadlines per day was driving his already threadbare sanity to the breaking point at top speed. Any more and he was going to jump out the next open window he saw. Preferably one at least seven stories up. 

“Come in.” Black Hat ordered once Flug knocked on the door and announced himself. “Because of how your devices have had a shameful drop in quality, I have deduced the problem to be your workload. Do  _ not _ take this reduction lightly. If I catch you slacking off with the extra time, you will receive a worse punishment than a half built ray. Do you understand?” Black lectured, holding out the revised planner.

Flug took it, looking through it. His eyes slowly grew wider, as if he couldn’t believe what he was looking at. He’d gone from three deadlines per day to one deadline... _ every other day _ …

He choked up a little, blinking rapidly to clear away any threat of tears, before raising his head, “Y..y-yes sir.” Flug forced out, trying not to sound as emotional as he felt. “Th...th-thank you..thank you so much..”

“Don’t thank me for your incompetence!” Black snarled. “If you kept up with the demand, I wouldn’t have to waste time to rewrite that for you, and accept less commissions. You better not make me regret this “ Black warned with a growl.

Flug shook his head hard enough to make himself dizzy, “I-I won’t sir! Product quality will double..t-triple! I swear it! I swear it sir I promise you won’t regret this you won’t!” Vaguely Flug was reminded of a happy dog panting at its master but he tried not to apply that image too much to this situation, clutching the new planner to his chest, “I-I’ll get back to work right now!” He began backing up for the door, still beaming from under his bag, “Thank you!” He dared to say again, before turning and fleeing to his lab.

 

* * *

 

Black Hat leaned back in his chair, work completed for the day, and chose this moment to rest. As he did so, he contemplated the day’s events. He may have to keep an eye on the tension that seemed to be present between his employees. He can’t have them constantly fighting, as evident by the fact so much time was wasted in damage control. 

After Flug had been dealt with, he had sent Demencia on a contract to allow her to burn off that aggression with something that benefited the company. He made a mental note to run another advertising campaign for the assassin’s abilities, and service. That way she would cause less trouble in the lab as well.

Black’s mind wandered to their petty argument, likely blown out of proportion from the tension buildup. Though it did allow for vital information to slip.

Black wondered how long Flug had been planning to escape. And how long Demencia knew about it. Black chuckled to himself at the fear that rose from both of them once the girl revealed the secret.

And then, when he dismissed Demencia from the room...

The monster grinned at the pure terror coming from his scientist. He licked his lips in the memory of the nearly overpowering scent of Flug’s fear as Black got closer to the man, petting and caressing him like a pet. Black laughed. The way Flug quivered in fear and confusion, was nearly intoxicating.

He knew he was going to have to do it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sammy wrote those last several paragraphs by herself - amazing work fren <3


	4. Interwork Relationships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flug's happier. It's..weird.

Flug was _noticeably_ happier over the next few days, which was saying something. He ate at least twice a day, slept for seven hours a night, and was hard at work in the lab in the meantime. He finished up meager commissions, completing one of them early to give himself three days to work on the next Black Hat Inc. product - he was determined to do the best job possible with it, so that Black Hat wouldn’t even be _tempted_ to smack him.

He may have actually been _enjoying_ work for the first time in..years.

His mind was whirling with new ideas and thoughts as he walked down the hall to go grab a meal from the kitchen, blinding him completely and causing him to smack right into Demencia as she exited with half a cold chicken leg in her sharp teeth.

They both ricocheted off each other, falling to the ground. Demencia seemed stunned for a moment, Flug having been an unexpected occurrence. The scientist shook his head, blinking rapidly and then slowly standing up, “Uhm..sorry, that was...that was my fault.” He held out a hand to her to help her up without even thinking about it.

She stared at his hand, confused, before turning her head to look at the floor. “Yeah,” she said after a moment, pushing herself off the floor, avoiding looking at him.

Flug awkwardly withdrew his hand. Seeing as how everything he did was awkward, though, it wasn’t too noticeable. “...uhm…” He felt an urge to make conversation, but didn’t know what to say. So he awkwardly made none and instead just stood there. Awkwardly.

Demencia brushed herself off, picked up her fallen chicken leg, and began to scale the walls, chicken being held in her mouth. She felt a pain in her chest as she glanced back at Flug, before disappearing into the vents.

“...o..o-okay then..” Flug shook his head and resumed his path for the kitchen, changing his thoughts to what he might have for lunch - maybe soup or something...it was so fucking nice to be eating actual meals again.

 

* * *

 

 

Demencia sat in the vent, bouncing the ping pong ball against the side panels. She honestly expected another verbal lashing from Flug, and it was surprising to see him..not angry. especially since she sold him out so easily. She had never been too good at keeping secrets.

She heard him exiting the kitchen, actually humming to himself, and she wonders what happened when she got kicked out.

Maybe it’s because she has been staying out of his way...

Her fists clench at the thought, the ping pong ball collapsing in her hand. “Oops, she said aloud, letting the crushed plastic drop.

She sighed. _Villains only get sad when they are failures._ She thought to herself, taking a deep breath. And she isn’t _that_ much of a failure. The woman scoffed to herself. After all, her latest contract went smoothly - so smoothly she wondered if Black Hat was impressed by it.

She smirked to herself, and crawled in the direction of her room. Today could be the day she earns Black Hat’s heart!

 

* * *

 

 

...Or not. She flinched as Black Hat’s office door slammed shut behind her.

For the first time in a while, insecure thoughts began to cloud her mind. Maybe Flug was right, she really was barely useful enough to be mildly tolerated, if even. Villains don’t feel the sting of words, so why was she replaying the arguments with Flug in her head?

And why did she find herself agreeing with him?

Crawling up, back into the vents, she made her way to the kitchen as her treacherous thoughts increased the ache in her chest. She needed to silence them, and she knew just the way.

It was evening now, and Demencia dropped into the freshly cleaned kitchen. 5.0.5 likely went over the room after dinner.

She looked around, finding the kitchen empty of potential scolders, and she approached the locked cabinet. She scoffed at the size of the lock.

Please, as if that would keep her out.

She slammed her foot down onto it, and the lock broke easily. Opening the cabinet doors, she stooped down and reached in, and grabbed the nearest bottle of alcohol she could see.

 

* * *

 

 

Getting seven hours of sleep a night was _glorious_ ...Flug sank into his mattress with a quivering sigh, eyes fluttering before shutting as he enjoyed just the knowledge that he was going to get _sleep_ \- and with plenty of time in the morning to finish all his assignments! He squirmed happily in place before letting out a breath and forcing himself to still.

Sleep wouldn’t be much use if he was too excited about sleep to get any sleep.

It took a few minutes of calming himself down, but eventually he was able to drift off.

..only to be awoken seemingly seconds later (in reality it was hours) by Demencia suddenly flopping onto him and sobbing.

She pulled at the blankets to wipe her face, seemingly not even noticing Flug at all, in spite of the yelp he’d given when she’d jumped on top of him.

“...D...Demencia wh..what are you doing..?”

She sat up quickly, finally noticing his presence, but toppled over immediately in her drunken state, nearly falling off the bed. “Y’ur, not sup’osed to be in-in my room...” she slurred, hiccuping as she tried to hide her face.

“...this is..this is my room?” Flug had to double check his surroundings to make sure, but the airplane models on his dresser and posters on the wall confirmed it. Then he smelled the stench coming off of her, and his nose crinkled, “You’ve..been drinking, haven’t you?”

“S’what? Not-not like you care!” She accused, wiping her eyes as another sob escaped. “G’outta my room.”

“D-Demencia this is my room.” Flug repeated, sighing and rubbing at his eyes from under his bag as he fumbled to switch on the nightstand lamp, “See?”

She looked around, and her sobbing returned full force. She tried to stand, but only rose an inch off the bed before falling back down. “Wh-why d’you b-bother?” She asked as she cried, too drunk to be ashamed of her behavior. “I know m’not s’posed to care, but y’just...and Black Hat...what was ‘si s-supos’ t’do?” She said through her sobs.

Flug squinted, sitting up more and hesitantly patting her shoulder, “I’ve...I-I’ve no  idea what you’re talking about Dem, but I’m uh..I’m guessing you got...rejected again?”

She nodded. “H-he...I think he...knows I feel b-bad ‘bout telling..b’you m-he prolly knows I l-let you hurt m’feelings.” She rambled, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

“...I what?” Flug’s eyes widened. “I hurt your f…? I didn’t know anything I said was..able to remotely effect you..”

“Is’stupid. Wh-why sh-shou’ I care what you th-think? B-but y’were right...'m a dis-disgrace.” She dissolved back into hiccuping sobs.

Flug was alarmed. He hadn’t known Demencia to ever be actually hurt by anything he yelled at her. Sometimes she yelled back or ran off but usually by the next day she’d forgotten entirely about it. Or maybe this whole time he’d just been oblivious to how his words were affecting her. “Geez..I...I’m sorry Dem, I only...I was just angry. It’s...it’s really really terrifying to lose progress, you know? Black Hat...h-he beats me pretty bad when I don’t meet deadlines, and you’d...that coffee had just ruined about fifteen deadlines…”

She swayed a bit in place as she hiccuped. “I d-didn’ mean t’tell h-him. Was just angry and-and part a’me wan’ed you t’hurt too.”

“I...well he...h-he did hurt me, so..so y-yay? You got..what you wanted…” Flug tried.

She shook her head. “‘M sorry. I kn-know ‘'m a bish.” Her slurring got worse, and she swayed into Flug, leaning on him. “M intoler’ble.” she murmured, her eyes struggling to stay open.

“You’re...only when you’re... _trying_ to be...which..which just means you’re very good at whatever it is you’re trying to do..” Flug awkwardly patted her shoulder a bit faster, unsure what to do with a woman leaning on him.

She mumbled something incomprehensible, before her eyes closed completely, and she went limp.

“...oh.” Flug winced at her. “..oh boy. Uhm…” He fumbled for his cell phone, and called 5.0.5’s number. The poor creature could barely operate a cell, but he could at least open and close the custom one Flug had made for him.

The ringing cut off and Flug was greeted with a sleepy “Aroo?” as 5.0.5 answered the phone.

“H-hi..sorry to wake you up but...but Demencia’s come into my room and..and passed out and I don’t think I can carry her all the way back to her own room..can you give me a paw please?”

5.0.5 gave an affirmative noise, and hung up the phone. A few minutes later, the bear entered the room quietly.

He approached the bed and carefully picked the girl up, wrinkling his nose at the alcohol smell.

“Whew...th..thanks, five..I’ll make it up to you, I promise..” Flug stared at the woman for a bit longer before shaking his head and sighing, flopping back down. “You’re the best.” He added.

5.0.5 nodded with a smile, and made a noise of farewell before carrying Demencia out of the room. Flug watched the bear depart, and then his eyes closed and he fell back asleep faster than he thought possible.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, when Flug entered the kitchen for breakfast, he saw 5.0.5 happily cooking.

“Hi Five.” Flug said cheerfully, patting the bear’s arm. “Good sleep last night? Well excusing all the...drama, of course..”

5.0.5 nodded, turning to wrap Flug in a hug, and let out a happy _chirrup_ in greeting.

Flug chucked, smiling and holding something behind his back, “Speaking of which..”

The bear pulled back with a curious look. “Baww?” He asked.

Grinning a little, Flug pulled his arm forward to reveal a large honey bear treat in his hand, “I didn't want to risk giving it to you last night and ruining your appetite.” He explained, “But this is a ‘sorry for waking you up’.”

5.0.5 raised his paws to his mouth in glee, before wrapping Flug in a tighter hug, and nuzzling happily. Flug chuckled, scratching behind the bear’s ears before pulling back and removing the cap for him, “Not all at once.” He reminded, setting it down on the counter and then going to take a seat at the kitchen table.

5.0.5 nodded, indulging in some before setting the bottle on the counter to tend to the food.

Just as the bear began plating, a hungover and unkempt Demencia entered rubbing her eyes and sitting at the table with a groan. She crossed her arms, and buried her head into them, and let out another groan.

“You didn't drink any water did you.” Flug said. He didn't even need to phrase it as a question.

She shook her head. “I have regrets.” She complained.

5.0.5 let out a scolding noise as he set a plate by her arms.

“Yeah yeah.” She brushed off, reluctantly sitting up to pull the plate closer.

5.0.5 set another plate in front of Flug, before retrieving the honey bottle for himself. Flug rubbed his hands together at the toast and eggs and hash browns before eagerly digging in, groaning at the excellence of the cooking.

Demencia picked at hers, appetite not currently present. “Do you have any like, sciency hangover pills or something?” She asked, rubbing her head.

“We have pain pills.” Was all Flug offered, before remembering that her fit was sort of his fault, and giving a slight wince, “..well I have some extra strength ones in the lab that should be able to cure your headache.”

She nodded, forcing herself to take a bite of egg. “Good, it’ll take a monster to get rid of this one.” She stayed focused on her plate, hesitating to bring up last night. She winced to herself just thinking about it. “Hey, Fives? Can you get me a glass of water?” She asked.

The bear nodded, setting down the honey bottle to fetch her request.

“Hey...uhhh...” She began, glancing at Flug, before trailing off as her embarrassment rose.

“I'd just save yourself a step in the future and start drinking in your room.” Flug advised.

She nodded, letting out an embarrassed chuckle. “Yeah, I’m sorry you had to...” She made a waving gesture with her hand, “..see all that.”

“..well I'm sorry I...I said things that pushed you to do ‘all that’ anyway. I was..I was really stressed and..” Flug winced as he recalled similar excuses being told him in his childhood, and he decided that was bullshit. “..I didn't mean any of it.”

She shook her head. “It’s whatever. We both know I deserved it.” She admitted, accepting the glass of water from 5.0.5 and taking a long drink.

“No, I…” Flug sighed. “Listen. What I said was...the most inaccurate statements I'd ever made in my life. You..both you and Fives are my best creations. I don't regret you.”

Demencia set the glass down, remaining uncharacteristically quiet.

5.0.5 beamed with pride at the praise. Flug patted the bear’s arm, standing up as he finished. “I'll be in the lab when you want those pills.” Flug told Dem before placing his dishes in the sink and hurrying off to work.

She nodded. “Kay, be there soon.” She said, looking down at her plate and deciding it was all she could stomach.

5.0.5 noticed her mood and offered a hug.

She scoffed, but smiled, accepting it. “Thanks Fives.” She mumbled into his fur.

 

* * *

 

Demencia went in to get the pills a short time later. She swallowed them dry, and thanked him, before exiting to her room for the rest of her hangover.

* * *

 

It was an hour after Demencia retrieved the pills from Flug, that Black Hat entered the lab. “How is progress?” He asked as he approached.

“Good sir!” Flug answered cheerfully, unrolling a blueprint for the newest Black Hat Inc. product and beginning to quickly chatter endlessly about the specs, production cost, and other details that Black Hat was _usually_ interested in, but today his focus was elsewhere.

Black smirked at the improved mood of his scientist, wavering loyalties forgotten. He leaned closer, and rested his hand on Flug’s shoulder, feigning interest in the blueprints.

That contact immediately prompted a short scream out of the man, making his shoulders jerk up and his head duck as he braced for death.

Black held in his urge to laugh. “Something the matter Doctor?” He asked, amused.

Flug stared with wide eyes at the clawed hand on his shoulder, arms shaking, “D-did I do something wrong s-sir?”

“Not that I am aware of. Why? Are you guilty of something?” Black accused, though keeping his tone amused.

“I-I thought I was doing a lot b-better..” Flug kept his eyes fixed on the claws, trying to lower his shoulder out of its grip.

“Do you have any reason to believe otherwise?” Black asked, keeping his hand on Flug’s shoulder. “I don’t see any errors in the blueprint so far. You did stop in the middle of your explanation though.” He said with a smirk.

“...uh..uhm..” It became clear that Black Hat’s hand wasn't going to move, and Flug tried to return to his talk in spite of it, “...the size..10 screws th-that this will require are….we need to order more…”

“I assume you have already placed the order?” Black asked, glancing at Flug, watching as the fear overtook the man in place of his previous mirth. How quick the change was, going from two steps from singing a Disney song, to trembling and stuttering at the mere touch of his hand.  To say it wasn’t a pleasurable feeling would be a lie to himself.

“...y-yes sir..” Flug answered, squirming in visible discomfort at the continued contact. “...that's all..” In actuality there were several more things that Flug had wanted to discuss but clearly that could wait, if it meant Black Hat would stop touching him.

“Nothing else to report?” Black asked, letting his thumb rub against the skin of Flug’s shoulder.

Flug somehow stiffens even further, shaking his head violently.

Black lingered a moment longer, taking in one last breath of Flug’s fear, before standing, and removing his hand. “Very well. Get back to work.” He said, before exiting the lab with a grin on his face.

Flug stared after him for a long time before slowly getting back to work, occasionally shuddering and scratching at the shoulder that now seemed to hold a chill to it.

 

* * *

 

Black Hat cackled to himself in his office. The scientist’s reactions...he was so deliciously terrified. A thought crossed the monster’s mind - how far could he take this game? Would Flug get more anxious, or would he become used to it?

Black Hat didn’t know, but he definitely wanted to find out.


	5. Subconscious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flug doesn't sleep too well.

“Here’s your wheel.” Demencia said loudly, having snuck into the lab with the intent to startle Flug. Her hangover had either worn off, or those pills she took worked really well. She let the chair wheel fall onto his desk in front of him.

Flug started back a bit, staring at the peace offering and taking it cautiously, half-expecting it to explode with spiders or something. But it didn’t. “...wow. Uhm...th..thank you, Demencia..” 

“Yeah, well, I accept your apology, so you can have it back. I would return the eracers from your pencils...but those are...gone.” She said, giving a mildly sheepish look.

“Did you eat them.”

“....maybe.”

Flug raised an eyebrow. 

She shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my fault that they look so edible.” She defended, sitting on his desk, surprisingly being mindful of his blueprints.

Flug knelt down on the ground, pulling his broken chair over and starting to reattach the wheel, “You’re looking a lot better.” He noted.

“I feel a lot better.” Demencia smirked. “Your drugs worked wonders. Have you sold any of them?” She asked, kicking her feet idly.

“No, no they’re..uhm, they’re for me.” Flug explained, leaning some of his weight on the fixed chair to test its strength before giving a satisfied nod and sitting down.

“You drink? I have never once seen you even  _ look _ at a bottle of alcohol.” Demencia said. “All I have seen you drink is coffee.”

The scientist gave a nervous laugh, “No they're not..hangover pills they're just pain pills.”

She stared for a moment, processing, before nodding when it clicked. “Oh, right. Cause when your stuff explodes, or boss gets pissed at you.”

“Or when I get a migraine or when old scars start hurting. Yes.”

She gasped. “You have scars? Can I see!?” She asked, impulsively reaching for the bag. “Are they on your face?”

He leaned back abruptly.  _ “Don't _ !” Flug said sharply, though clearly more out of alarm than anger. He took in a breath and cleared his throat. “..uhm.  _ Please _ don't..don't touch the bag.”

Demencia recoiled at his alarmed exclamation. “Sorry.” She said, “I got curious.” She let her hand rest at her side, before turning to Flug’s blueprints. “What’s that supposed to be?” She asked, pointing.

Flug looked at where she was pointing, glad for a topic change, “Oh it's a...a gravity increaser..”

“Oooo, what does it do?” She asked.

“.....it makes ice cream.”

“...odd name for an ice cream maker.” She snarked, sticking out her tongue. “I meant, like, what  _ exactly _ happens.”

“The gravity around the device increases.” 

“Does it crush stuff?” She asked. “Cause that would be cool to watch.”

“Yes, it crushes stuff.” Flug nodded, rolling his chair up to his desk and continuing to work on the blueprint.

“You should show me after it’s built. Ooo we could even crush a hero or someone with it! That would be hilarious.” Demencia mused, giggling.

Flug smirked beneath his bag. “That’s the idea.” He said calmly. “It’s a torture device.”

“I bet you could plant it at a hero’s house and force them to watch as their family and their home is crushed into dust! I wonder if we can convince a client to get that on video...” She rambled. “Do you think Boss would allow that?”

“Allow you to get a client on video? I don’t know.” Flug shrugged a shoulder, “But, he might allow you to go out with a complete model and crush a house yourself - if you got that on video it’d be a great addition to the commercial.”

Demencia giggled. “Now I just need to figure out a hero’s secret identity. Shouldn’t be too hard if I follow them around long enough. Or, if I'm in a hurry, kidnapping them would be easier... I might just do that to begin with. When do you think the gravity crusher will be done?” She asked.

“Early evening tomorrow, I estimate.” Flug turned his neck to the side, popping a crick in it and wincing. “I’m going to try and do the best possible work I can with this one!” 

“I take it this is my cue to leave you in peace?” Demencia asked with a smirk.

The scientist gave a hum in his throat similar to an ‘uh-huh’ sound, nodding his head just enough so she could note the movement. “If you don’t mind. I work best when I can concentrate.”

Demencia nodded. “Fiiiiine.” She said, “But only cause that gravity crusher thing sounds so cool.” She stuck out her tongue playfully before ascending into the vents.

Flug actually smiled a little at the compliment, knowing it was probably the most genuine and verbose one Demencia was capable of. ‘Cool’ - that’s the last word anyone would have used to describe him or anything associated with him back in...every second of his life, really. Adulthood hadn’t exactly changed much.

Clicking his tongue, Flug turned on some quiet music from the tiny radio on his desk, and resumed his work.

 

The radio went static as Black Hat entered the lab, walking slowly up to Flug, watching as the man grew tense even before he rested his hand on Flug’s shoulder. “Prototype is finished I see.” Black mused.

Flug winced, biting on his lip and nodding as he held stiffly still.

“Ahead of schedule, good. It means that you won’t be complaining after I tell you of a bigger project that you will be working on, on top of your other work.” Black smirked, and reached over, his hand trailing lightly across Flug’s back to the other shoulder, so he could raise his free hand, and place it on Flug’s freed shoulder. “Well? Aren’t you going to ask what it is?”

Flug’s shoulders drew in further towards his head, and he gripped the edge of the table, “...uhm……...wh..wh-what is it, sir…?”

Black chuckled at the tremor in Flug’s voice. “I need you to build a torture device. One that can and will be sold at the auction that will take place in a week’s time. The day before however, is when I am going to advertise it.” He tightened his grip on Flug’s shoulders. “Do not fail this one. Understand?”

“Gh!” Flug gave a violent jerk, breath quickening even though Black Hat’s grip was merely uncomfortable, not yet painful, “I-I understand sir..c-completely.” Normally Flug would ask if Black Hat had any more detailed instructions or desires but he was eager to end the conversation so his boss would go away.

Black Hat lingered for a moment longer, taking in Flug’s fear as much as he could, before releasing him, and turning away. “Good. Get back to work.” He ordered, exiting the lab.

“Y-yes sir…” Seriously what the  _ fuck _ . Flug rubbed anxiously at his chilled shoulders and set aside the prototype, pulling out a large, blank blueprint. He needed to just..focus himself on some nice, relaxing torture ideas, and forget all about the ghost sensations of claws digging into his shoulders.

 

By the end of the day, Flug had a rough draft of the desired device drawn up, and he rolled it up with the intention of showing it to Black Hat in the morning. He left at midnight, tired but not exhausted. After a quick shower, he got into bed, shutting off the lights and preparing for the usual dreamless sleeps.

 

_ Flug squirmed in place as he felt claws slowly drag over his bare chest, tracing a line from the middle of his throat to his navel. He stifled a moan as another hand joined, bracing against his neck and stroking his jawline. He shivered as his body began to grow warmer, flustered at the alien sensation of intimate physical attention. _

_ Lips pressed to his, and he could feel sharp teeth graze against his bottom lip. Flug winced, not out of pain, but at the potential of the thin skin being broken through. The usual delirium that came with dreaming kept him from trying to see who this partner might be, as he didn’t really care - he couldn’t remember ever having a dream where things felt  _ nice _ , and he wasn’t about to jinx it by opening his eyes and seeing some sort of horrible nightmare. _

_ A thin tongue slipped into his mouth past his parted lips, and Flug jerked in place a bit, startled. But he had no urge to bite or turn his head away. He allowed the narrow muscle to slowly explore his mouth, the sensation making his thinking even fuzzier. The hand at his navel continued moved further down, though it stroking to the side when it reached his pants hemline, bypassing his groin to grasp his hip. _

_ “Mnh..” Flug’s brow furrowed for a moment, his back arching just slightly as a shiver ran down his spine. He could feel his fingers twitching, and his heart starting to gradually pound harder against his rib cage.  _

_ His partner broke the kiss to exhale, their sharp nails digging into Flug’s jeans and chest. Their hips rolled forward against Flug’s groin, a rumbling growl escaping them that made Flug freeze in the middle of a moan. _

_ He’d recognize that low snarl anywhere. _

_ The man tried to tell himself not to open his eyes, but in his dreams, his thoughts were slower than his body, and he was too late.  _

_ Black Hat met his eyes, and grinned. “Enjoying yourself doctor?” He asked, rolling his hips again, his grip tightening. _

_ Flug choked, breath stopping. The bashful heat in his face quickly drained away to ashamed horror as his body automatically pushed back against the friction. This was worse than every nightmare he’d ever had combined into one. _

_ Black Hat lowered his head to bite at Flug’s neck, his tongue following the bites to caress the bloody marks left behind by his sharp teeth. _

_ Finally Flug found his voice. “S-stop. P-please stop...wh-what the hell..p-please stop..”  _

_ “Shhh, relax~” Black said, before sitting up to pull off Flug’s pants. _

_ “No! No no no no no!” Flug sat up as well, grabbing his jeans by the belt loops and scrambling backwards.  _

_ Black let out a growl, gripping the man's hips and pulling him back. “You wanted this.” He accused. “You were enjoying it were you not?” _

_ “I didn't know it was you!” _

_ “How does that change things? I feel a bit insulted.” Black huffed, thumbs rubbing over Flug’s thighs and gradually working into in between his legs. _

_ “I d-don’t..I don't want this with you!” Flug pressed his fists against his chest, wanting to shove Black Hat’s hands away but too terrified to be so bold as to physically touch his boss.  _

_ “How rude.” Black scolded, and leaned down to return to Flug’s neck. “Anyone but me?” _

_ “Y-yes?! I'm..I'm sorry to offend you b-but I don't admire you this way!” _

_ Black just chuckled. “Your loyalty goes all the way, Doctor.” _

_ Flug shivered at the hot breath on the side of his neck, trying to tuck his chin in, “S-sir please get o-off of me!” _

_ “Close your eyes and enjoy yourself.” Black ordered, slipping his hand underneath Flug’s shirt to rub his chest. _

_ Flug stiffened up, pupils shrinking as he realized that he wasn't going to be allowed to say no. “..s-sir p...please..” Flug begged, voice shaking. “Please stop.” _

_ “Shhhh..” Black quieted, running his tongue over the side of Flug’s neck before starting to bite at it, nipping repeatedly as Flug tried unsuccessfully to stop crying out at each bite. They became gradually more painful, and although Flug tried not to acknowledge it, the heat in his body became more intense with the increasing intensity. _

_ Black’s claws began to dig into Flug’s skin as his neck continued to be ravaged. The monster noted Flug’s physical response to his attentions, and he gave a pleased purr. Flug whimpered in despair at himself - spending so many nights and days locked away from anyone, staying alone...it’s all come back to haunt him. His body was so desperate for any touch, even if his mind didn’t want it, that it responded eagerly to even the slightest brush of his boss’s claws or teeth. _

_ Black Hat sat up slightly, dragging a claw up from Flug’s navel to his collarbone and cleanly slicing his shirt in two. Icy cold air hit his skin and Flug shivered violently, starting to shake his head as Black Hat leaned closer. “N-no...no no p-please..” _

 

Flug jolted awake with a slight scream, face flushed red underneath his bag. His pajama pants were tented and he quickly shoved a pillow onto his lap, burying his fingers in his hair and tugging at it viciously. “Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop o-oh my fuck please  _ stop _ …” He begged himself, chest heaving as he gasped in air.

That didn’t just happen - he did  _ not  _ just dream about that. And he  _ definitely  _ didn’t just  _ get hard from it _ ! That had to all be fake! Somehow?!

“O-oh fuck..” Flug whimpered, keeping the pillow held in place as he got up from bed, haphazardly grabbing some clothes and inching into the bathroom.

He made sure the water was ice cold this time.

 

“What took you so long?” Demencia asked as Flug entered his lab. “Did j’ya sleep in?” She was on his desk, rummaging through his spare parts.

“...y..yes, let’s call it that..” Flug approached quickly to make sure she wasn’t damaging anything, “What are you doing?”

“Dunno, just looking.” She said, despite smirking. She had stacked several parts on top of each other, somehow balancing them perfectly. “I got bored.”

Flug squinted at her stack of various things, marveling at it for a bit before shaking his head to clear it, “Uhm. There’s no assignments for you?”

“Ehhh, I leave in a couple hours. It's boring to wait for those hours to arrive though.” She answered, taking a bolt and putting on top of the stack, freezing as the tower wobbled slightly, before stabilizing once more. “And you were late, so, voila!” She stepped back from her masterpiece, grinning at it.

Flug looked it up and down, “It...is impressive how it hasn’t..fallen over yet.” He admitted. “But couldn’t you have tried..organizing it?”

She snorted. “But then you can’t knock it over!” She replied as she pushed the pile over, sending the once stacked objects scattering across the desk. Some even clattered to the floor. Demencia laughed at the small moment of chaos.

“......can you please put that back where you found it.” Flug tried, sighing as he already expected no success.

“I found it all on your desk.” She said as she knelt down to pick up a larger fallen piece. She turned it over in her hand, before standing up and placing it on top of Flug’s head. “The top of your bag is wet, you forget to dry your hair after your last minute shower?” She observed.

“..oh, is it?” Flug felt the top of his bag and confirmed it, sighing. “I..yes.” It’d taken a humiliating five minutes in ice cold water before Flug’s erection had gone away - making him two minutes late to work, technically. But at least the only person to notice was Demencia.

She snickered. “Showering takes too much time, especially when I’m late. Besides, the only times I sleep in are when I am having really good dreams about Boss.”

Flug shuddered violently, and began gathering up the scattered scrap materials, “....y-you should shower at night then.” 

“But what if he comes into my room to visit while I'm in bed!?” She protested. She lifted her foot to kick a few stray pieces towards Flug, helpfully. “Night time is when fun things should happen you know. Then again, not sure a virgin like you understands at all.” She teased, sticking out her tongue.

“Have fun in the shower then.” Flug muttered, “If he needed to see you so badly that he’d come into your room instead of ordering you to his office, then he’d burst in on you on the shower. Isn’t that better?”

She thought for a moment, before nodding. “You’re right, that would be a lot better! People are much sexier when wet after all..” She snickered to herself. “Then again, you could just be tricking me into showering more...” She huffed, crossing her arms at this new dilemma.

“If it’s both, then what’s the problem?”

“Showering sucks, that's the problem.” She retorted, sticking out her tongue.

“You smell.”

“So what? It doesn't bother me.” She said as she leaned closer to Flug. “Can you even smell through your bag?”

“Yes.” Flug shrugged. “I’m around all sorts of ungodly stenches every day though. I’m used to it.”

She laughed. “How would you rate my stench then?”

“One of the worse things I’ve smelled but not  _ the  _ worst.” 

“Why, thank you Fluggy!” She said with a bow, giggling.

Flug rolled his eyes but smiled a bit from beneath the bag, happy to distract himself. “Seriously though, if you’re just going to hang around my work area while you’re bored you could...I don’t know. Help? Instead of knocking everything over.”

“Help?” She asked, eyes wide, as if such a notion was foreign to her. “What would  _ you _ need help with?”

“Correcting the things you’ve messed up.”

She snorted. “Hey now, I didn’t mess things up too much...this time. Besides, you already cleaned up most of the metal pieces.” She picked up the piece of metal that fell from Flug’s bag, and toyed with it.

“Well, you can still offer to help rather than just trash my lab. It’s not very productive.”

“What do you need help with then?” She asked, as she flicked the metal onto Flug’s desk. “And don’t ask me to read the math on those blueprints, I hate numbers and they hate me back.” She rested her hand on the corner of the desk, and leaned in.

“No, no no. God no. You’re not..going to be doing anything like that, no. It would just be a lot of...well, you know your alphabet right?” He tried to ask in as joking of a manner as possible, but in reality he was genuinely concerned that she might not.

“Yeah, of course. It’s drilled into your head in kindergarten. That kind of brainwashing doesn't leave you.” She tapped her head. “Even after becoming an experiment.” She smirked. “Why do you ask?”

“There's some things of mine you can alphabetize..”

“Like what?” She asked, not exactly thrilled about the idea, but found herself bored enough to be willing to try.

“My filing cabinet.” Flug nodded at the grey tower of drawers - it housed his oldest prototype blueprints, so if Demencia got bored and started eating them, the loss wouldn’t be too great. 

She sighed, and wandered over, opening the top drawer to inspect the files. “By experiment name right?” She asked, lifting one of the files to read it.

“Yep.”

Demencia nodded, and began to pull out the files, starting to organise them. “Geeze, when was the last time you organised these?” She asked, amused at the seemingly random style of filing that was the current state of the filing cabinet.

“Uhm...six months?” Flug estimated, shifting around the blueprints on his desk into a more suitable arrangement before resuming his work on the torture machine plan that Black Hat had requested. “I hardly had time to jam folders in there at all after that.”

Demencia snickered. “Jammed they are. Some are even bent! You would think  _ I _ got into it.” She smirked as she began to start sorting by Z instead of A.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you did.” Flug said with an amused tone.

“Surprisingly I haven’t.” Demencia quipped, before starting to hum a tune as she continued to sort.

The rather peaceful working environment was interrupted by Black Hat’s entrance.

“Demencia, what are you doing?” He asked.

Demencia whirled around with a grin. “Flug told me to sort these. I am being productive or whatever.”

Black Hat raised an eyebrow, but turned to Flug, walking up to him. “I see you managed to find a way to pacify her.” Black noted as he rested his hands on Flug’s shoulders, paying no mind to Demencia’s gawking.

It was the same effect as if Black Hat had shocked him with a taser.

Flug jumped forward, a direction in which there really wasn’t room for him to jump, resulting in him slamming his gut against the edge. He crumpled over his stomach, crossing his arms and shutting his eyes tightly. A breathless wheeze was coughed out, the scientist lowering further towards the floor to get away from the claws. 

Black just dug his claws in as a warning. “How is progress on the torture machine? What are your plans for it?” Black asked, and retracted his claws. He rubbed the injuries as he leaned closer, resisting the urge to laugh at Flug’s reaction.

Flug was nearly on his knees at that point, but he forced himself to stand up straight, gripping the edge of the table for either physical or moral support. Possibly both. “N-nearly finished with the plans s-sir about ready for y-you to look over them a-and approve them or a-add on or..anything like that sir.”

Black nodded. “What time do you predict that would be?” He asked, letting his hands slip from Flug’s shoulders to his upper arms. He smirked, taking in the increased fear.

The doctor immediately went stiff. He ceased responding. Black Hat could hear his breaths getting shallower.

“Dr. Flug.” Black prompted, a warning in his tone. “I asked you a question~”

“I-I...” Flug stuttered. He began to feel the ghost touches from his dream, and he shuddered despite his body heating up.

The slight change was not lost on Black Hat, his grin widening in amusement. “Well?”

“C-can you please let go of m-me sir.” Flug begged, shutting his eyes tightly. 

Black just chuckled. “What time will you be in my office to go over the torture methods with me?” He restated, rubbing Flug’s arms.

“Wh-whenever you want o-okay? P-please..please stop..”

“It’s your plan Dr. Flug, not mine.” Black leered. “So how about a proper answer hmm?”

Normally Flug liked to calculate precisely when he would be able to have things ready to the best of his ability, but at this point he was more than okay with pulling a random time out of his ass. “T-tomorrow at 2pm?!” 

Black chuckled, and withdrew his hands. “I expect to see you then.” He said smugly. “Is there anything else?”

“ _ My turn _ !” Demencia shrieked, promptly flinging herself forward and latching onto Black Hat from behind, clinging to him tightly and eagerly nuzzling into his neck, “Dig your claws into  _ me _ !” 

Black’s expression shifted from amusement to irritation as he hissed, sending a tendril to wrap around her throat and throw her off of him. He glared at her as his tentacle retracted, allowing her to recover.

“Aww, come on, that's not fair!” She whined with a pout, sitting up and rubbing her neck.

“Don’t you have a contract to prepare for?” Black snapped. This is the last time he will allow an audience, that’s for sure.

“Not for another hour, that’s plenty of time for you to touch me~!”

Black scoffed. “Go find a chew toy or something instead of interrupting my conversations.” He dismissed, and turned back to Flug. “You’d better have the plans for the torture machine, and your current assignment finished by 2pm tomorrow.” He snarled, his mood effectively ruined. “Got it!?”

Flug gave a sigh of relief, nodding in understanding, “Y-yes sir..” 

“Good.” Black snapped, before exiting the lab grumpily.

As soon as he left, Demencia got to her feet, and tackled Flug, and grabbed the lapels of his lab coat. “What did you do to get him to do that?  _ Tell me your secrets! _ ” She asked, the last sentence a stage whisper.

Flug gave a blarbed, unintelligible string of words and put his hands over his bag-covered face, shoulders hunching up, “I-I don’t  _ know _ !” 

She huffed and rolled off of him, laying on her back against the tile floor arms crossed. “You have to know  _ something _ right? Unless you are just hiding it from me, which isn’t  _ fair _ by the way.” She complained.

“D-Demencia if I  _ knew  _ what it was I was doing that...th-that was...encouraging him to…...touch me I-I’d  _ stop it _ ..”

Demencia rolled onto her stomach in surprise, meeting his eyes. “Why do you want it to stop?” She asked as her surprise melted into confusion.

“I don’t….” Flug sat up, resting his elbows on his knees and letting out a shaky breath. “...I-I have...every respect for Black Hat...h-he’s the greatest villain to ever exist, a-and it’s an honor to work for him. I-it really is! But I don’t…..I don’t think of him uhm….the way you do. A-amorously, that is. And all this gentle touching he’s doing it...it’s far more unnerving to me than anything else he’s done..”

“Does he know that you don’t like him like that?” Demencia asked, sitting up as well and crossing her legs.

“I really don’t know how he..couldn’t know? C-considering how I react..”

“Hmm... Maybe I have been going about wooing him all wrong.” Demencia muttered. “When did he start touching you like that?” She asked.

“...a-actually it was when he..h-he punished me for trying to resign..” Flug murmured, shuddering at the memory and getting to his feet. He needed to start pacing if he was going to relate this story without his heart pounding itself to death. “O-obviously he beat me p-pretty bad but he... _ led into it _ with...s...stroking..”

“Stroking? Like on your head or...?” Demencia trailed off, and gestured at his lap. “Or just your shoulders like earlier?”

Flug cluelessly squinted at her gesture to his legs, shaking his head and absentmindedly tapping at his jawline, “My..chin, a-and..thereabouts.”

Demencia nodded, looking thoughtful for a minute. “So, if I say I am going to quit, he might do the same for me! Psh, who knew all it took to get Boss’s attention was to play hard to get!” She giggled. “Flug, you are a genius!”

“I mean, yes, but not...in that way. Demencia h-he’d...punish you in a way that was effective for  _ you _ ...do you really think he’d reward you with attention?” Flug’s brow furrowed. Demencia was not very good at self-preservation when it came to predicting Black Hat’s reactions.

She scoffed. “I can handle a beating. I get much worse if I fuck up during a contract.”

“What about the Quiet Room?”

Demencia looked down at just the thought. “That...that's only when I mess up real bad, like misbehaving when he is Live or something...” Her hands began fidgeting in her lap.

“Demencia he  _ knows _ you consider any bit of his attention as a reward..”

She groaned, and laid back against the floor once more. “It’s not faiiiiir...” She whined.

“A-agreed..” Flug mumbled, sitting back down at his desk, “But it makes sense. Why would he give either of us what we wanted?”

“Cause we’re loyal and devoted.” She mumbled. “I have tried literally  _ everything _ and here you don’t even want it. If I pretended not to want it do you think It would work?” She asked as she sat up to look at Flug.

“M...maybe? If you acted uninterested and...s-stopped flinging yourself at him...acted uncomfortable if he even came near you..?” Flug shrugged a shoulder, rubbing at the back of his neck and squinting. “I’d...really r-rather not talk about this anymore though, i-if you don’t mind..”

“Fine. I’ll come up with something.” She said as she stood up, giving a sigh. “I’d better get ready to go. I will finish filing...whenever.” She chuckled.

“Alright.” Flug gave a mindless wave in her direction as she walked out before coming to his senses and sitting up, “Oh, Demencia, uhm…...thank you.”

She paused in the doorway, casting a confused look his way. “For what?” She asked.

“...returning my wheel, and..filing..sort of….and not destroying stuff….it’s just..i-it’s been nice. H-having someone around for uh..conversation...where I don’t have to yell..”

Demencia smiled. “You’re welcome you sap.” She teased, smirking as she left the lab, though still rather perplexed at the unusual show of gratitude from the scientist. She rarely received such words from anyone, and as strange as it was, she certainly didn’t hate the feeling.

Maybe if she continued to keep the destruction part of her personality corralled, she’d get to receive more of them.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find us at hellish-anomaly.tumblr.com  
> However if you're under 18 kindly stay the hell away from us, thank you, yep.


End file.
